Independents

Randy Rusnell caps off successful season with second Velocity 250 Super Stock Win

(C)Ashley McCubbin

For the second straight year in a row, Randy Rusnell would pick up the victory in the Velocity 250 Super Stock feature. It marks his second straight win in the Velocity 250. It also marks his 13th feature win this year after winning 11 weekly features at Sunset Speedway and a mid-summer invitational.

For the second straight year in a row, Randy Rusnell would pick up the victory in the Velocity 250 Super Stock feature. It marks his second straight win in the Velocity 250. It also marks his 13th feature win this year after winning 11 weekly features at Sunset Speedway and a mid-summer invitational.

Qualifying was completed on Saturday afternoon and the sweet 18 were announced. Sauble Speedway Champion Chad Eden, Lane Zardo and Vaughn Lawrence tied for top-qualifier with an average finish of second across the two heats. The tie-breaker was whoever had the highest finish in the first heat which went to Eden, followed by Zardo and Lawrence. Ken Grubb was fourth followed by Todd Davenport, Cayden Lapcevich, Jamie Praysner, Randy Rusnell, Kevin Albers, Ryan Semple, Bob Kish, Joe Adams, Paul Maltese, Ron Lawrence, Ross Evans, Steve Cashmore, Travis Hallyburton and Rick Ecker.

Eden rolled the dice, handing out a five car invert which put Sauble drivers Davenport and Grubb on the front row.

In the B-Main, it’d be ‘Captain Hook’ Bob Price taking the early lead while Nick Troback and Johnny Morrison. Troback took second on lap two ahead of Morrison followed by Tyler Liscum and Craig Scott while Nick Tooley and Dennis Cybalski battled for sixth. Cybalski grabbed sixth ahead of Tooley and Jason Legge on lap five. Shawn Goggins, who missed the first day of qualifying, got alongside Legge on lap six for the last qualifying position and completed the pass on lap seven. On lap eight, Cybalski passed Scott for fifth while Goggins and Tooley battled for seventh. Goggins got by Tooley on lap nine, knocking Tooley back to the last qualifying spot.

At the front, Troback go alongside Price for the lead on lap nine with Price able to hold on to the lead ahead of Troback, Morrison, Liscum, Cybalski, Scott, Goggins, Tooley, Legge and Coltin Everingham. As the laps ran down, Troback tried to get alongside Price once again and as the pair came off of turn two on the last lap, contact was made between the pair with Price getting loose and then spinning halfway down the backstretch. As a result, both Price and Troback would go to the back of the field for the green-white-checkered. This handed the lead to Morrison ahead of Liscum.

On the first attempt, Nick Tooley would spin while running up high, with Troback and Everingham caught in the wreck in the process. Tooley headed down pit road to rip off the bumper off as everyone continued.

On the second attempt, Liscum jumped the start. Liscum wouldn’t jump the start on the third attempt, though he grabbed the lead. However, the caution flew as they were going to get the white when Cybalski tried to make three-wide for the lead and contact was made between Cybalski and Morrison, resulting in Cybalski hitting the inside wall. As a result, Morrison would restart at the rear while Cybalski would be done.

On the restart (yes, fourth green-white-checkered), we had another caution as Tom Podd spun Tooley. Podd was given the black flag for rough driving and kicked off the track.

On the last restart, things went clearly and Tyler Liscum picked up the win ahead of Scott, Goggins, Legge, Troback, Price, Morrison and Everingham. Tooley finished ninth and was the only driver not to qualify.

With that sorted and done, it was time for the 50 lap feature. Todd Davenport would start pole ahead of Ken Grubb, Vaughn Lawrence, Lane Zardo, Chad Eden, Cayden Lapcevich, Jason Praysner, Randy Rusnell, Kevin Albers and Ryan Semple for the top 10.

Once it started, Davenport would quickly get suffled out of the lead and back a couple spots while Grubb took the lead ahead of Lawrence, Zardo and Lapevich. The first caution would fly at lap 11 when Ron Lawrence went around in turn four virtue of Semple. Both cars would go to the back for the restart so with 39 to go, Grubb led Vaughn Lawrence, Zardo, Lapcevich, Praysner, Davenport, Joe Adams, Albers, Bob Kish, Steve Cashmore, Paul Maltese and Ross Evans.

When the green came back out, Grubb and Vaughn Lawrence ran side-by-side for the lead with Grubb getting the advantage. Lapcevich settled into third while Zardo fell back to sixth after being passed by Rusnell and Eden before the next caution at lap 17 for Morrison blowing up in turns one and two. After a lengthy clean-up of the oil, you’d have Grubb leading Lawrence, Lapcevich, Rusnell, Eden, Zardo, Praysner, Adams, Davenport, Albers, Cashmore and Kish.

On the restart, Grubb would once again get ahead of Lawrence while Rusnell got by Lapcevich to move into the third position. Praysner also kept climbing, moving into fifth ahead of Eden and Zardo before the caution came out for debris on lap 23. With 27 laps to go, Grubb led Lawrence, Lapcevich, Rusnell, Praysner, Eden, Zardo, Davenport, Adams, Albers, Cashmore, Shawn Goggins, Kish, Nick Troback, Tyler Liscum, Travis Hallyburton, Maltese, Semple, Bob Price, Dave Doucette, Legge and Everingham.

This restart would go the same as past restarts with Grubb holding serve ahead of Lawrence with Rusnell third. Davenport would get by Zardo for seventh before the next caution at lap 27. In turn two while battling for fourth position, Praysner would get into Lapcevich, causing Lapcevich to go for the spin. Both Lapcevich and Praysner would be sent to the back of the field. With 23 laps to go, Grubb led Vaughn Lawrence, Rusnell, Eden, Davenport, Zardo, Adams, Albers, Cashmore, Goggins, Kish, Ron Lawrence, Hallyburton, Maltese, Semple, Troback, Liscum, Doucette, Price, Craig Scott, Legge, Everingham, Lapcevich and Praysner.

Grubb held serve as he had done the previous restarts while Vaughn Lawrence fell to third after being passed by Rusnell. The caution would fly on lap 32 for Liscum having problems. He would be toed off and brought down to the attention of his pit crew. They’d fix his problem and sent him back out, restarting at the back of the field.

On the restart, Grubb and Rusnell would run side-by-side for the lead till the caution flew for Zardo having a flat tire. Sunset officials would rule that Rusnell was ahead of Grubb at the line, handing Rusnell the lead for the restart. So now Rusnell led Grubb, Vaughn Lawrence, Eden, Davenport, Adams, Ron Lawrence, Albers, Cashmore, Maltese, Goggins, Troback, Praysner and Lapcevich.

Rusnell held serve on the restart and led till the seventh caution flew for Cashmore running into problems in turns three and four with Goggins. Cashmore would bring his car down pit road and spend some time getting repairs before returning to the race, a couple laps down. Goggins, meanwhile, would go to the back of the field for the restart. For this coming restart (not sure how many to go due to scoring board failure), Rusnell led Grubb, Vaughn Lawrence, Eden, Davenport, Adams, Ron Lawrence, Albers, Praysner, Lapcevich, Maltese, Troback, Semple, Doucette, Hallyburton, Liscum, Scott, Zardo, Legge, Price, Everingham and Goggins.

On the restart, there’d be another caution when Scott got into Zardo in turns three and four.

The next restart would be a go and things would stay pretty much in order, besides some people playing bumper cars throughout the field, till lap 45 when Kish spun around on the backstretch, drawing the caution. With five laps to go, Rusnell led Grubb, Vaughn Lawrence, Davenport and Ron Lawrence.

Randy Rusnell would get a good restart and lead the final laps to pick up the win. He was followed by four Sauble Speedway cars – Vaughn Lawrence, Ken Grubb, Todd Davenport and Ron Lawrence.

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